Cape Town has long been the centre of the print, design and film industries in South Africa and its quirky city centre buzzes with cool ‘creatives’ who work at the plethora of ad, design, fashion and digital agencies that have made the Mother City their home. Being a port city and the gateway to Africa for many international travellers, Cape Town is vibrant and cosmopolitan, welcoming innovation and inspiration from all corners of the world.

A holiday to Cape Town wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the top of our beloved and iconic Table Mountain. It is now one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, not just because of its remarkable shape or its breath-taking views but also because of the diverse fauna and flora to be found on its slopes. Here are our tips for the easiest, most fuss-free way up our mountain:

As the saying goes, bigger isn’t necessarily better. Like all major cities, Cape Town is home to a selection of the world's leading hotel brands, but if it's intimate proportions and character you want, then a boutique hotel or guesthouse is probably a better choice for your Cape Town holiday.

South Africa’s 1996 Constitution specifically protects full and equal rights for LGBT people. In 2006, the rainbow nation legalized same-sex marriages - the first country in Africa and the fifth in the world to do so.

Long Street is one of Cape Town’s most improbable and yet exciting streets, where prim Victorian architecture festooned with wrought-iron decorative ‘lace’ stands cheek-by-jowl with pumping nightclubs and some of the city’s oldest and most-revered places of worship. Starting near the harbour, it forms a rich backbone to the inner city and is truly the street that never sleeps: from office and court workers on weekdays to ultra-hip students and night owls who haunt the late-night restaurants on weekend, it has pep, zest and life in all its weird and wonderful incarnations.

The world was transfixed when Nelson Mandela was finally released to freedom in 1990 after 27 years in jail for his role in the struggle to overcome apartheid. Twenty-three years later, in 2013, the eyes and cameras of the world were once again on South Africa as this former president, Nobel Peace Prize winner, statesman and father figure to millions was laid to rest. None of us will ever again have the opportunity of interacting with this great-yet-humble man but we can visit some of the places that shaped his life and that are indelibly connected with his story.

Summer in Cape Town sees up to 14-hours of daylight, with the sun setting at about 8pm at the height of the season when temperatures regularly hit the 30s Celsius (90s Fahrenheit). And what a sunset it usually is: the sky streaked with candy floss-pink clouds and the sun slipping beneath the horizon as it bathes all in a soft, golden light.

Book a window seat if you’re flying into Cape Town for the first time: the bird’s-eye view of the Mother City’s natural beauty deserves the chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ it elicits from arriving visitors. Accessible and easy to enjoy, the city’s mountains and beaches are its primary natural attractions, but there are hidden gems on the wilder side of this peninsula. Underwater forests, rugged hiking trails and great white shark enounters all lie within sight of Cape Town.